.: Birthday Lunch at Cheyne's, Hout Bay

Thursday, December 09, 2021

Birthday Lunch at Cheyne's, Hout Bay

John's birthday on the 27th of November started on the hill behind and above Hout Bay, where we visited a family friend
She was holding a memorial for one of her sons who, tragically, succumbed to Covid this year
The view from her house is spectacular

Lynne had booked a table at Cheyne's in Hout Bay for 1 pm
Chef Cheyne Morrisby is renowned for his Asian inspired food and we are great fans of good Asian food,
so we wanted to sample it; this was a good time to do so

The same building also houses Lucky Bao, serving Bao, Ramen and Burgers
and the Superette where you can buy ingredients for home cooking. Chef Cheyne Morrisby runs both

Inside, it is rather atmospheric with lots of cherry blossom,
but we chose to eat on the back verandah, as it was a lovely day

Under the awning with our polite and attentive waiter, Tatenda, opening our wine
He was very interested in what we were drinking, so we gave him some to taste. They charge R50 corkage
It was a wine from our cellar that was given to us on John's birthday a few years ago
We wanted to taste it with Asian food; it went so well with all the food

This is Cheyne's Yum Cha menu. We made four choices each, so eight dishes to share
The current special is a 4 dish tasting experience for R340 per head

The drinks menu. Well-chosen wines, many available by the glass

and the Lucky Bao menu

The wine we brought - Die Kluisenaar 2016 was made and given to us by Johan Malan, cellarmaster at Simonsig,
who is the Kluisenaar, (translation: The Grapesmith). It is a blend of Rhône varietals Roussanne and Marsanne
A limited release. Aromas of lime blossoms, citrus, peach, baked apple, and a caramel wood note
It is rich and ripe with a good mouth feel; full of layers of golden fruit, some minerality and length. Perfect with food

Food began to arrive, two or three dishes at a time. This is the Sea Bass Sashimi which came with a supplement of R60
The menu said that the accompaniments were house ponzu, jalapeno, picked ginger and toasted sesame
Not a very generous portion, sadly, but we did enjoy it
There were also dots of salty caviar and some crisps and red onion slices

This was by far the best dish of them all. Wonderful aubergine tempura
The aubergine inside the fabulous crisp pastry was so soft and gooey, with great flavour
The umami sauce was Unagi (fresh water eel) and a salted caramel lime Aioli with a dusting of chilli flakes

Good deep fried Chilli salt baby squid; tender and cooked to perfection and there were crisp tentacles as well,
with a sesame mayo and a green chilli caramel. There was also wakame seaweed beneath the squid

Baby shrimp tempura was correctly described, as the portion and the shrimps were small. A bit over cooked, so rather dry
The garlic truffle mayo was gentle and seemed to have a chilli sprinkle
We think the purple blob was beetroot kimchi or could it have been seaweed?

The Mumbai Chilli beef came swathed in herbs, onion rings, carrot and coconut flakes
Beneath was glistening strands of hard beef, coated in a good teriyaki sticky sauce, and sesame seeds
Reminiscent of biltong, done in an Asian style

Roasted and pulled lamb-filled, very rich and briefly steamed Gyoza dumplings,
on pickled cucumber slices and topped with fresh mint
On the side, what tasted like a good oyster sauce and wasabi yoghurt

Another good dish was the Duck lime leaf and miso croquettes, very rich and moreish on a sriracha mayo,
and another sticky sweet sauce with flaked coconut
We did question why such a meaty, rich dish had salty caviar on top; it didn’t work with the duck, for us

Our eighth and final dish was the Grilled beef fillet Kushiyaki - skewered and grilled on a Hibachi,
with a cardamom, ginger and chilli dipping sauce. Sadly, the picture did not appear
It has a supplement of R40
Our bill with service, supplements and corkage was R915
The 8 courses were filling and we did take a small doggie bag home with a duck croquette and Mumbai Chilli beef
In front of us were four young people, who looked like students and they were tucking in to the Lucky Bao menu
Burgers, Bowls - Poke and Ramen, The loaded chips did look very good

There are some interesting plaques embedded in the wall